Walk With Me

“Who wants some milk? My little hero wants his milk isn’t he? Here you go, sonny.”

Matthew crouched down, eye to eye with River who was playing with his Lego set and handed him a bottle of milk. That little munchkin grabbed it and just sucked on its plastic nipple hungrily. Valary smiled watching her husband feeding their almost two year old son while placing the plates on the long dinner table.

It was Friday night and they were still continuing with their old tradition of having dinner together. Their family expanded with River around, Johnny and Lacey were expecting, and Arin – the new kid. Too bad Erika didn’t keep in contact with them otherwise she would have welcomed to join this tradition long ago.

Not that Valary and Michelle hadn’t tried contacting her, they even went to visit her couple of times before but her mom – ugh that woman. She warned them not to come again, as they were a bad influence for her to study, apparently. Plus, her mom just couldn’t stand Michelle’s vulgar mouth. They just gave up visiting her and Erika too gradually stopped texting them.

But Valary didn’t blame anyone for her departure from the band. It was her own decision. Arin really deserved a chance and Matthew couldn’t agree more. He would have let Erika go himself but still keeping her in the family but it was still a matter of choices. Erika chose to leave.

“You cut it wrong. It was fucking diagonal not horizontal, Brian.”
“What difference does it make? This will all turn to shit later.”
“Euughh I just lost my appetite!”

Valary glanced at the kitchen counter and saw Michelle with Brian, standing side by side, their backs facing her. Those two lovebirds were bickering in front of the raw vegetables, sometimes playing with it, making funny faces. She shook her head watching them. Her twin sister and Brian were more in love now that they’re married and they haven’t changed a single bit.

“Guys, please. Don’t play with my food or I’ll kick your asses out of here.”

Brian and Michelle turned around pouting, with thin slices of carrots under their noses – mimicking a mustache and Valary just burst out laughing.

“Lacey!!” Michelle suddenly yelled when she saw an almost due pregnant Lacey with Johnny behind her. The three of them went over to the front and greeted the couple.

“I brought wine. Thought we could celebrate something.” Johnny handed a bottle of red wine to Matthew. He took it and frowned at him.

“Celebrate what?”

Johnny glanced at Lacey and she held out her left hand. The girls instantly gasped as they saw a big fat diamond ring on her finger and they congratulated them excitedly.

“Finally dude. She’s about to explode and now you popped the question? Smooth.”

“Well, there’s no turning back now.”

Lacey slapped Johnny’s shoulder as they moved on together to the dining table.

“Where’s Zacky and Arin?”

“Arin’s having his first tats today. Zacky brought him to Think Ink. They’re coming but a bit late.”

“Think Ink? All the way to LA?”

“Yeah, Chester moved his shop there. You know how picky Zacky can be when it comes to ink.”

Johnny nodded while helping Lacey to her seat. Tonight they were having pasta, and Jimmy’s favorite turkey ham. They were all helping themselves to the food and chattered about random things. But they can never skip this one tradition though.

“So, who’s gonna start telling stories?” Matthew put his fork down and glanced around the table.

“Let me start.”

A voice from behind him appeared and all of them turned their heads to the direction. It was Zacky.

“Hey, Zack! Glad you can finally make it.”

“Yeah sorry I’m late. But let me start first.” Without helping himself to the food or even sitting down, he began.

“So Arin and I went to Think Ink. And we met someone.”

They frowned at him. “Someone? Who?”

As if on cue, after Matthew was done asking that question Arin emerged from the doorway hand in hand with Erika beside him, wearing his oversized leather jacket.

“OH MY GOD, ERIKA!!” Michelle and Valary screamed their lungs out and threw themselves at Erika, hugging her tight and jumping excitedly. Erika cried in happiness as the twins spun her around in their group hug.

“Your hair!! It’s red!”

“Yeah I know! Why did you guys stop visiting me?”

Valary and Michelle looked at each other. “Your mom. No offense but she’s a bit of a pain in the fucking ass.” Michelle explained.

“Yeah, she used to be. I moved out 5 months ago because of her. But she’s cool now. We’re okay.”

Erika moved her gaze forward and saw Brian in front of her. She gleamed at him and quickly went into his hug.

“We missed you fan girl.” He claimed and hugged her back.

Erika grinned evilly on his chest. “I missed you too, pineapple head.”

“What did you call me?” Brian instantly pulled away and raised his eyebrows at her. Erika held back her laughter as she stared at his side-shaved hair style. It was almost a mohawk but he just let the middle part of his hair grew long and gelled it high.

“Arin told me you guys came to my house. My dad, called you a pineapple head.”

They all exploded into laughter, and to nobody’s surprise, Johnny was the loudest.

“What the fuck? This hair style kicks ass. I look good, don’t I?”

“Yeah you look good.” Erika pursed her trembling lips for a bit. “Brianapple.”

The room roared with laughter again and Johnny quickly pulled Erika into a hug while still laughing.

“Thank you Erika for making fun of Brian. That name is epic and I’ll start calling him that from now on.”

“Oh shut up Johnny.” Brian punched Johnny’s shoulder playfully and they continued like that for a while.

"Don't worry Brian, my dad also said that Arin resembled a German soccer player. Mesut...Oshin or something."

"Ozil? Euww." Brian shot a disgusted glance to Arin and he rolled his eyes.

"Tell me about it."

"No, no. Arin looks more like that gay boyband shit, One Direction." Johnny mocked again. Boy he was happy everybody now had a point for him to make fun of instead of them teasing with his height.

"Ha-ha Johnny. The only direction I will make is my foot in your fucking ass."

"Oooh. Feisty!"

They laughed hard again as they made their ways to the table back. Erika saw Matthew was already there - sitting in his chair, with a little baby beside him, in his own high chair.

“You must be River. Hi there, sweetie!” Erika cooed at the little boy in the high chair and he grinned, showing his two front teeth and a set of dimples on both sides of his cheeks.

“Aww, he looks just like you Matt!”

“Really? People say he looked a lot like me though.” Valary commented while serving food onto Erika and Arin’s plate as they both sat next to each other.

“He has dimples. Hands down it comes from Matt.”

Matthew ignored her remark but nevertheless he kissed River’s cheek next to him. Erika then realized, only Matthew didn’t greet her warmly like the others. What’s up with him?

“So Erika. Since we’ve lost you for two years, you owe us a hell of a story.”

Erika blinked at Brian. “Story? Uh, do I have to?”

“Hell yeah! It’s tradition. We do shit like this every Friday night.”

“Except when we’re on tour.” Zacky added.

She bit her bottom lip and glanced at Arin. He looked eager to hear her story too.

“Okay. Where do I start -”

“How about with, what were you thinking when you ditched us in Long Beach two years ago?” Matthew cut her off, his tone a bit serious. She staggered at his begrudging stare while the others went silent immediately.

“Are – are you mad?”

“I was. You don’t get to leave us like that Erika. What if I decided to pick you instead?”

“You won’t. I know you won’t. You made your decision long before we went on that tour.”

Matthew didn’t answer. The air in the dining room suddenly choked with tense as they both stayed silent and glared at each other.

“I’m sorry, Matt. Guys. I’m so sorry I left. But I had to. I didn’t wanna be a burden to you guys. Arin involved in a fight because of me, he injured himself, and Matt warned him off - everything. I can’t bear to watch it. I had to leave.”

Silence fell long between them. There were only River’s random rambling filled the ambient.

“I shouldn’t have come here. I’m sorry.”

Erika stood up, put aside her napkins and ready to leave.

“No. Stay.” Matthew called and she stopped abruptly. From the corner of her eyes she saw him raised from his seat and approached her. Before she knew it, he pulled her into a hug swiftly.

“Sorry I got mad. Welcome back.”

She hugged him back, even tighter.

“Phew! For a second I thought you guys are gonna kill each other!” Johnny ruffled his own mohawk in relief as the others were no longer holding their breaths from watching Erika and Matthew’s argument earlier.

“So, I owe you guys a story right?” Erika turned to them and settled on her chair once again, smiling at Arin as she spoke.

“Now we’re back on!” Zacky claimed excitedly.

Erika told them everything. From the difficulties of rebuilding her own band with someone that she used to fight a lot, looking for gigs as they had lost their original vocalist, and to the point they had been offered a real record deal.

The guys cheered and congratulate her, and she swore to bring her band mates to meet them some day. They were ready to be their mentor whenever they needed them and Erika can’t thank them enough for that.

With these amazing guys, once you’re a family you will always be a part of the family.

Notes

A/N: originally i didn't have the Ozil and One Direction scene in this chapter but seeing that i should make it up to you guys, @Leyla.lp and @MeRi so i just sort of typed in it the moment i wanted to post it. hahaha I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY! haha LOL